Chapter 124: Uchiha Sengoku Shines with Fire Scale Sword, Kumo Retreats, Third Raikage's Haki Breakthrough, and Ōnoki's Anxiety
As the Uchiha clan head, Uchiha Sengoku's combat style was quite well-rounded, and his mastery of Uchiha swordsmanship was also very high.
After taking up the Fire Scale Sword, flames continuously flowed along the blade's trajectory. Wielding superb Uchiha swordsmanship, he moved through the enemy ranks like a dancer.
Kumo commander Dagoī naturally could not tolerate such a strong figure like Uchiha Sengoku wantonly killing his men—he directly activated Lightning Release Chakra Mode and charged forward.
But while fighting Uchiha Sengoku, he didn't immediately notice the overall change in the battlefield situation.
Thanks to the presence of vassal weapon users, the morale of the Uchiha across the entire battlefield soared—everyone's courage surged.
By the time Dagoī realized the situation had turned unfavorable, it was already too late to adjust—he could only order a retreat.
Although Kumo ninjas were usually fearless, facing the Uchiha vassal weapon users, they were killed until their courage faltered.
Upon hearing the commander's retreat order, they immediately fled at full speed.
Konoha's ninjas pursued for a short distance before stopping.
This time the Uchiha had truly gained great face—almost a single clan holding off a ninja village's forces.
Of course, this was only Kumo's frontline troops; the main force had not fully arrived yet.
Uchiha Sengoku was extremely satisfied with this battle's results.
However, what Uchiha Sengoku failed to notice was that quite a few mid- and lower-tier Uchiha had been sacrificed.
In Konoha, Naraku blankly stared at the Kumo comrades in his Hall of the Dead and the intermittent rewards from Uchiha using vassal weapons—he knew the Kumo battlefield had most likely ended in victory.
At this moment Naraku suddenly felt that as the war continued, the Sage of Six Paths might notice.
Previously the quantity was small so it didn't matter—but now with large numbers, danger might arise.
Although he had carefully checked the system manual and confirmed it couldn't be detected, there was no guarantee the Sage wouldn't trace clues and come.
Naraku could only raise the minimum strength threshold for souls accepted into the Hall of the Dead to special jōnin level or above.
...
Unlike Konoha's celebratory victory mood, the Third Raikage A—currently training his fists—became very angry upon hearing the busty secretary's report.
A frontline defeat would affect subsequent morale, and the Uchiha clan's vassal weapon users were indeed not simple.
Though most of them didn't reach Kage-level strength, they could easily and steadily defeat elite jōnin.
He had never seen someone as disgusting as Sarutobi Hiruzen—arranging one ninja clan to face Kumogakure. It was foreseeable that as the war dragged on,
the hatred between Kumogakure and Uchiha would grow bigger. Originally, knowing Uchiha Naraku wasn't on great terms with Konoha, he had thought about trying to recruit Uchiha Naraku.
If he could win Naraku's loyalty, that would be best.
Konoha had directly cut off that path—but perhaps he could take another route! With an idea in mind, A said to his secretary: "No more playing house with Konoha. I will personally enter the battlefield against Konoha later! Also notify Ōnoki afterward—we can't let only our village take the heat while others watch the show! And notify Sunagakure too! With such a good opportunity right in front of them, I refuse to believe they won't cherish it!"
The busty secretary Sarai anxiously said: "Won't this cause too many ninja casualties on our side? And if you personally go—if you're defeated, what happens to the village? We've already gathered intelligence: the Iron Ghost Senju Nawaki has awakened. Though we don't know if he's recovered his combat power from that battle. There are even rumors that Sarutobi Hiruzen obtained a powerful weapon forged by Uchiha Naraku and now possesses terrifying strength!"
The Third Raikage A said nothing more. He slowly wrapped his entire body in Armament Haki. Even without using chakra, a terrifying aura rushed forth.
This time he punched the small mountain again. What shocked Sarai happened—the Raikage's fist clearly didn't touch the mountain, yet the mountain was pulverized as if crumbling to dust.
At this moment the Third Raikage A slowly said: "Only Haki can stand above all!"
By now the Third Raikage A had passed the rapid-growth phase of Haki strength. He also felt that continuing to punch mountains one fist after another to reach the pinnacle of Armament Haki would take who-knows-how-long.
What he needed was a stronger opponent!
Sarai no longer tried to stop him. With her insight, at this level of strength she couldn't imagine what kind of enemy could kill this strongest Raikage.
Beside them, the Fourth Raikage A—who had watched the entire process—looked at his father with admiration and envy. By now the Fourth Raikage A was nearing 20 years old and already a resounding genius of the Yotsuki clan.
Originally he had believed he could step-by-step reach his father's strength level through the clan's ninjutsu inheritance.
But ever since his father obtained Haki power, he could no longer understand it—this had already surpassed the peak strength of Yotsuki clan ninjas recorded in their documents.
"Dad, is this the power of Armament Haki? Was that last strike the pinnacle of Armament Haki?" the Fourth Raikage A asked.
The Third Raikage A shook his head and said: "I feel this is still not the pinnacle of Armament Haki! And I still need to continue training Observation Haki!"
"Then Dad, will you eventually reach the level of power of the God of Shinobi?!" the Fourth Raikage A praised.
However the Third Raikage A did not answer directly. After all, the God of Shinobi had died many years ago. According to records his strength was extremely terrifying—he wasn't sure if he could reach that level.
But he knew why his son was saying these things. He laughed and scolded the Fourth Raikage A: "Get lost and go train! I'll get you new Haki Seeds later. Remember—the stronger the physique, the faster Haki will rise. Don't slack on Lightning Release Chakra Mode either—at least for now it's not inferior to Haki power! And you're underestimating Observation Haki's perception too much! I feel that continuing to improve Observation Haki could even surpass the so-called insight of Byakugan and Sharingan."
With this lecture the Third Raikage A sent the Fourth Raikage A away. He himself didn't know when he had shifted his focus to Haki.
Perhaps because as a ninja his strength had already reached its peak.
Or perhaps he felt the ninja profession relied too heavily on bloodline—this bloodline dependence appeared in every aspect of ninjas, and many ninjas' upper limits were tied to it—so he wanted to switch tracks.
On the other side, Ōnoki quickly learned of the Raikage's intentions. The more he thought these days, the more worried he became.
Konoha's strength had grown far too much. If they continued developing like this, he couldn't see a future for Iwagakure.
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